USPSTF Releases Recommendations for Smoking Prevention in Children

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has released a new recommendation statement dealing with intervention methods for the prevention and cessation of tobacco use in children and adolescents.

The statement, which updates the 2013 USPSTF recommendation, was developed following a review of available evidence on the benefits and harms of primary care interventions for tobacco use in children, now including e-cigarettes as an additional form of tobacco product.

Among the recommendations:

• Primary care clinicians should provide interventions, including education and or brief counseling, for the prevention of tobacco use among children under 18 years of age (B recommendation).
• Current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of primary care interventions for cessation of tobacco use among children under 18 years of age (I statement).

“Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the US. An estimated annual 480 000 deaths are attributable to tobacco use in adults, including from secondhand smoke. It is estimated that every day about 1600 youth aged 12 to 17 years smoke their first cigarette and that about 5.6 million adolescents alive today will die prematurely from a smoking-related illness,” the authors wrote.

“More studies are needed to identify effective interventions to help children and adolescents who use tobacco products to quit.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:
US preventive Services Task Force. Primary care interventions for prevention and cessation of tobacco use in children and adolescents US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. JAMA. 2020;323(16):1590-1598. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.4679